Environmental Struggle

The environmental work of Unión del Barrio should address environmental degradation as a part of our struggle against colonialism, capitalism and imperialism. Neoliberalism is only capable of promoting the interests of transnational corporations, and these have proven capable of destroying the planet in their insatiable quest for profit. As with every crisis born from capitalism and imperialism, capitalists reap wealth in direct proportion to environmental degradation, and poor people suffer from increasingly frequent catastrophic loss. Only a continental revolutionary struggle can bring an end to the poisoning of the atmosphere, deforestation, contamination of the oceans, and the other causes of climate change we see today throughout Nuestra América.

Only a socialist world economy can provide a socio-economic system where the accumulation of wealth is not the driving force of society, but instead prioritizes life with dignity and justice. Food production and consumption (community gardens), other forms of tree/ plant distribution and planting to make our communities more green, promotion of alternative and collective transportation forms (“riders” union), democratizing of existing transit, and sharing the concept of “buen vivir” in opposition to “vivir mejor” all are ways we can undertake environmental work. We seek to recover the equilibrium with Mother Nature that our indigenous ancestors enjoyed.